This presentation was delivered by EK CEO Zach Wahl at the 2023 Midwest KM Symposium in Kent State, Ohio. The presentation defines Knowledge Management and its value. It also covers key industry trends and outcomes.

1. 16 June 2023
Making Knowledge Management Clickable
Ensuring KM is Recognized as a Business Critical Element of Your
Organization

2. ⬢ 25 Years of KM Consulting Experience
⬢ Expert in Knowledge Management Strategy, Design, and
Implementation
⬢ Inc. 5000 Listed CEO Five Years in a Row
⬢ Host of Knowledge Cast Podcast
⬢ Coauthor of Making Knowledge Management Clickable (2022)
ZACH
CEO AND COFOUNDER, ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE
WAHL

3. Knowledge
Management
Defined

4. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INVOLVES THE
PEOPLE, CULTURE, PROCESSES, AND ENABLING
TECHNOLOGIES NECESSARY TO CAPTURE,
MANAGE, SHARE, AND FIND INFORMATION.
THE NEW MISSION OF KM IS TO LINK ALL OF AN
ORGANIZATION’S KNOWLEDGE, IN ALL ITS FORMS,
MAKING IT NOT JUST FINDABLE, BUT
UNDERSTANDABLE AND ACTIONABLE.

5. PEOPLE PROCESS CONTENT CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
⬢ Flow of knowledge
through the organization.
⬢ Knowledge holders and
knowledge consumers.
⬢ Understanding of state
and disposition of
experts.
⬢ Existence and
consistency of processes.
⬢ Awareness of and
adherence to processes.
⬢ Quality of processes.
⬢ State and location of
content.
⬢ Consistency of structure
and architecture.
⬢ Dynamism of content.
⬢ Understanding of usage
(analytics).
⬢ Senior support and
comprehension.
⬢ Willingness to share,
collaborate, and support.
⬢ Maturity of “KM Suite.”
⬢ Integration with and
between systems.
⬢ Usability and user-
centricity.
PROCESS CONTENT CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
Deconstructing KM

6. Knowledge Management Actions
CREATE
The point at which knowledge
or information is first exposed,
either in written or verbal form.
CAPTURE
The collection of information in
a tool or repository (from tacit to
explicit) so that it can be
managed.
MANAGE
Tools, technologies, and
processes required to secure,
organize, control, and expose
the right information to the right
people.
ENHANCE
Processes to evolve and prime
the information.
FIND
Tools and technologies to
help people find the content
they need, when they need it.
CONNECT
Creating links between
knowledge and information,
between the holders of
knowledge (experts), and
between repositories.

7. The Value of KM

8. CONFRONTING
TODAY’S KM
CHALLENGES
WHY KM MATTERS
EXPONENTIAL INCREASES
IN CONTENT AND DATA.
MORE BARRIERS TO
COLLABORATION AND
CONNECTIONS
(ORGANIZATION,
GEOGRAPHIC, ETC.).
PROLIFERATION OF
KNOWLEDGE AND
INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
LESS STRUCTURE, MORE
SOCIAL.
THE GREAT RESIGNATION -
LOWER STAFF RETENTION,
HIGHER LEVELS OF
RETIREMENT.
SUDDEN REMOTE AND
HYBRID WORK.

9. CONFRONTING
TODAY’S KM
CHALLENGES
SUPPORTING DATA POINTS
TODAY, 80% OF BUSINESS
IS CONDUCTED ON
UNSTRUCTURED
INFORMATION – GARTNER
GROUP
KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
SPEND FROM 15% TO 35%
OF THEIR TIME SEARCHING
FOR INFORMATION – SUE
FELDMAN, IDC
FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES
LOSE ROUGHLY $31.5
BILLION A YEAR BY FAILING
TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE –
PAMELA BABCOCK, HR
MAGAZINE.
UNSTRUCTURED DATA
DOUBLES EVERY THREE
MONTHS – GARTNER
GROUP
EACH DAY IN THE U.S.,
10,000 PEOPLE RETIRE –
SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION
40% OF CORPORATE USERS
REPORTED THEY CAN’T FIND
THE INFORMATION THEY
NEED TO DO THEIR JOBS –
SUE FELDMAN, IDC

10. KM Outcomes
▪ Improved content findability and
discoverability, and therefore less
time waiting, searching, and
recreating knowledge.
▪ Increased use and reuse of
information.
▪ Decreased knowledge loss.
▪ Improved organizational awareness
and alignment.
▪ Enhanced quality, availability, and
speed of learning.
Business Outcomes
Improved productivity.
Decreased costs and cost avoidance due
to regulatory fines and lawsuits.
Increased employee satisfaction and
retention.
Faster and better up-scaling of
employees.
Improved customer satisfaction and
retention.
Improved delivery and sales.
Increased collaboration and innovation.
Future readiness.

11. KM by the Numbers – Measurable Return on Investment
Employees spend up to 40% of their time looking for
information, waiting for answers from others,
or recreating information that already existed but they
were unaware.
60% of employees are more likely to stay at a job for 3
years or more if they have a good onboarding
experience. (O.C. Tanner n.d.)
Direct replacement cost as high as 50%-60%
of the employee’s annual salary, with the total
costs associated with turnover ranging from
90% to 200% of annual salary (Allen 2008)
Average training cost of an employee is $1286,
with over 40 hours per year spent on training
by each employee (Training Magazine 2019)
(1%< Time Spent Searching) x (working
hours of 500 employee company) x average
salary ($65,000) = $325,000 saved
50% of training replaced with point of need training x
500 employees = $321,500 saved
60% retention across 100 new hires
x low average replacement costs of
average salary ($65,000) = $1.95M
avoided replacement costs

12. Step 1
New Employee is
given a task, but is not
sure how to proceed
with it.
Step 2
They spend two
hours searching on
systems X, Y, and Z.
Step 3
The search results are
incomplete and
include somewhat
conflicting guidance.
Step 4
They email their
manager for
guidance and wait
an hour for a
response.
Step 5
The response directs
the employee to an
individual who has
completed this task
in the past.
Step 6
The employee emails
this individual and
receives a response
in an additional hour.
The response
includes an
attachment that
provides a template
for completing the
task.
Step 7
The employee
reviews the template
and emails the
individual back to
receive clarification
on how to complete
it. After an additional
30 minutes, the
individual responds
with the necessary
guidance.
Step 8
The employee
completes the task.
Total Time: 4.5 Hours

13. Step 1
New Employee is given a task, but is not
sure how to proceed with it.
Step 2
They search the new knowledge base and
find the template for completing the task,
examples of completed tasks, and
identification of individuals who have
completed this task in the past.
Step 3
They review the template and “chat” the
experienced individual via one-click link
from the search results for additional
guidance.
Step 4
They receive an immediate answer and
are able to complete the task
Total Time: 10 Minutes

14. Making KM
Clickable

15. Collaboration
The ability for stakeholders and users to work together in terms
of content creation and content management.
Governance
The roles, responsibilities, processes, and procedures necessary
to maintain KM-related processes over time.
Taxonomy & Information Architecture
Taxonomies are controlled vocabularies used to describe explicit
concepts. Information architecture standardizes and simplifies
where and how content is stored and tagged.
Change Management
Places people at the center of the process to make
change real and ensure it sticks.
Search
The best search experiences connect people to
information, information to information, and people to
people, while addressing foundational concepts in search.
Automation
The ability to reduce the manual work associated
with tasks, processes, and procedures through the
creation and application of technology.
Content/Document Management
The strategies, methods, and tools used to capture,
manage, store, and share content and documents
in the most optimal way possible.
Foundations of KM Explained

16. Knowledge Transfer and Capture Techniques
• Retrospectives
• Simulation
• Role-playing
• Hack-a-thon
• Community of Practice
• Knowledge Fair
• Peer Group
• Town Hall Webinars
• Digital Birds of a
Feather
• Videos/recordings
• Knowledge Base
Repository
• Storytelling
• SME Interview
• Brown-Bag Lunch
• Implicit Knowledge
Capture
• Handover Checklist
• SME Profiles
• Expert-Facilitated
Cohorts
• Action Action Reviews
• FAQs
• High Value Moments of
Knowledge Capture
Tools
• Peer Assists
• Job Shadowing
• Mentoring
• Coaching
One to
One
One to
Many
Many to
Many
No Tech Low Tech
Ex. Email or Video-
Conferencing
High Tech
Ex. Knowledge Graph

17. KNOWLEDGE GRAPHS
TAXONOMY
MANAGEMENT
ONTOLOGY
MANAGEMENT
ENTERPRISE SEARCH
Architecture and data models to
enable machine learning (ML)
and other AI capabilities. Drive
efficient and intelligent data and
information management
solutions.
Examples:
• Expert Finder
• Recommendation Engine
• Customer 360
WEB CONTENT
MANAGEMENT
DOCUMENT & RECORDS
MANAGEMENT
DIGITAL ASSETS
MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS CONTENT
MANAGEMENT
Used to author, organize, manage
and publish content on a
website.
Examples:
• SiteCore
• GraphCMS
• CloudCMS
• Drupal
• WordPress
• Contentful
Designed to manage, secure, and
control documents across an
enterprise.
Examples:
• Alfresco
• Documentum
• Box.com
• OpenText
• GoFileRoom
• M365 / SharePoint
Designed to manage digital
products like videos and images.
Most frequently used by
marketing and publishing
departments.
Examples:
• Adobe Experience Manager
Assets
• Bynder
• Iconik
Content management tools built
for a specific business purpose
like customer or contract
management.
Examples:
• Apttus Contract
Management
• SalesForce
• Dynamics 365
• Learning Management
Search tools designed to query
across multiple KM systems.
Examples:
• Sinequa
• Lucidworks Fusion
• Elasticsearch
• Solr
Empowers the creation and
management of complex
relationships between various
sources of data.
Examples:
• Stardog
• Neo4j
• Neptune
• Ontotext
Enables organizations to
maintain and expose their
business taxonomies to KM
systems.
Examples:
• PoolParty (SWC)
• Cambridge Semantics
• Semaphore (SmartLogic)
• Synaptica
COMPONENT CONTENT
MANAGEMENT
Manages content at a granular
level so portions of a piece of
content can be reassembled and
used for other content.
Examples:
• Marklogic
• EasyDITA
• SDL Tridion
COLLABORATION
Tools designed to enable users to
share content and collaborate
using instant messaging or video
conferencing.
Examples:
• M365 / Teams
• Slack
• ShareFile
• Firmex
Core KM Technologies

18. ⬢Harness graph databases
and ontologies to connect
multiple types of content
with context.
⬢Used to power Enterprise AI
applications including
chatbots, recommendation
engines, and expert finders.
⬢Able to identify relationships
that are otherwise not readily
apparent.
Knowledge Graphs

19. ⬢Build on content
management capabilities to
deconstruct and
automatically assemble
content.
⬢Leverages taxonomies for
customization and
recommendations.
⬢Drastically reduces
administrative burden while
improving governance and
content quality.
Content Assembly and Customization

20. ⬢Integrate multiple
repositories via a single front
end and search.
⬢Leverage taxonomies and
ontologies to maximize
findability and
discoverability.
⬢Use content types and
search hit types to make
results actionable.
Knowledge Portals and Advanced Search

21. ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE
Zach Wahl
@zacharywahl
zwahl@enterprise-knowledge.com
QUESTIONS?